Charlie X - Episode History

Episode History

• The premise for this episode formed part of Gene Roddenberry's original March 1964 pitch for Star Trek, under the name "The Day Charlie Became God." When the series entered production, Roddenberry assigned it to Dorothy C. Fontana to dramatize. It is a reworking of the principal theme of Jerome Bixby's award-winning 1953 short story "It's A Good Life" (filmed as an episode of The Twilight Zone in 1961 as well) with the immaturity and emotional conflicts of adolescence substituted for those of the six year old in Bixby's tale. (Bixby wrote four episodes for ST:TOS, but is not credited for "Charlie X.")

• This episode also contains obvious parallels to Robert Heinlein's "Stranger In A Strange Land" and the character of Valentine Michael Smith. In both stories, a human boy is raised by aliens, acquiring unusual mental abilities in the process. Both characters experience difficulty and conflict when they are returned to live among humans again. Having been raised by aliens with no exposure to humans, neither character has ever seen a human female before (Charlie asks Janice Rand, "Are you a girl?" Smith asks a nurse, "You are...'woman'?"). Both are sexual innocents whose exploration of intimacy drives much of the plot. Neither character is able to successfully reintegrate into human society -- Charlie is forced to return to live with the Thasians, while Smith is killed by a lynch mob.

• For a while during production, the episode was known as "Charlie's Law" — a name which survived in the James Blish adaptation of the episode for Bantam Books. In a scene in the script which did not air, Charlie's Law is stated as "You'd better be nice to Charlie...or else."

• Gene Roddenberry made an uncredited audio cameo as the cook (or mess officer) who exclaims that the meatloaf has turned into real turkeys.

• There is a small continuity error within this episode. During the scene where Kirk explains the butt-swat to Charlie, he is called to the bridge. He enters the turbolift wearing his yellow pullover uniform shirt, and exits on the bridge wearing his green wrap-around tunic.